WALLABIES coach Ewen McKenzie won’t lobby Super Rugby sides to sign James O’Connor, despite the potential for the exiled star to miss the 2015 World Cup due of a lack of interest from Australian clubs.

After shifting to London Irish at the end of last year, O’Connor is looking to return to Australia — via Toulon — next year in a bid to play at his second World Cup. The problem is there are no clubs jumping out of their skins to sign him, with Melbourne, NSW and the Brumbies not interested.

The Western Force spoke with O’Connor prior to his overseas departure, but their culture-driven success this year has seen the talks go cold. There’s still a heartbeat, but it’s faint.

“It’s in the background but I am not sure where it is going though. We are undecided,” Force CEO Mark Sinderberry said.

“We went through a good process last year as an organisation to really dig into the issues, and weigh that up against a group of very hardworking players which through the leadership or Michael Foley and Matt Hodgson, they’re developing a very strong group. If we were to go down that (O’Connor) track, we would start the process again as an organisation.”

News_Image_File: Australian Super Rugby clubs have shown little interest in James O'Connor.

Which leaves Queensland, where people from two clubs he left acrimoniously — ex-Force coach Richard Graham and ex-Rebels recruitment manager Sam Cordingley — now pull the levers.

O’Connor’s bonds with several key Reds stars are also less than what they once were.

So the Reds, in short, will also need plenty of convincing but how they perform in the second of this Super season may prove telling.

McKenzie would no doubt love to have a reformed O’Connor in his World Cup squad — let’s not forget he was one of Australia’s best in 2011 — but the coach won’t pressure Super Rugby coaches.

“I have left it up to him to work out how he gets back to Australia and that’s between him and the provinces really,” McKenzie told us.

“The people he has to convince are those people. They’ve got team cultures and how they want to go about business, and they also have salary caps and all those things.

“He obviously chose to go offshore. Well, getting back onshore and getting back here, that’s the challenge he has got to sort out.

“I am not out there peddling anyone’s case. I have to be respectful of players who are here and plugging away and doing good things.

“In the end, the melting pot for the World Cup will become obvious at the start of next year, and we’ll go from there.”

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DOES Kurtley Beale know something we don’t about why no Aussie teams win at Eden Park? The Wallabies haven’t won there since 1986, and NSW have only claimed one win there in Super Rugby history.

Kurtley, your thoughts?

“There’s obviously a voodoo there for foreign players,” Beale said yesterday before flying out.

SPEAKING on making sense, we’re still scratching our heads about Will Skelton’s description of the Blues backs.

“”They’re a physical side and they have a bit of head wobble out on the wings and in the centres,” Skelton said.

Does head wobble mean confidence, or is it the tell-sign of a hot-stepper?

News_Image_File: Will Skelton makes a break for the Waratahs.

Skelton knows a thing or two about light-feet. His clodhoppers may be size 18 and require gridiron cleats bought online from the US, but the 140kg giant has tiptoed past 11 defenders this season; the fourth highest in the team and more than all the Waratahs wingers.

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FOR all the talk about the Waratahs’ expansive and attacking style, it is worth acknowledging that the Brumbies and Force have each scored more tries than NSW in their first eight games.

The Brumbies (23 tries) and Force (21) get very little credit for their try-scoring ability and are known as more defence-oriented teams.

But we’ll get a more realistic gauge of each side’s attacking capacity when they have all done their South African tour. NSW (20 tries) could only manage two tries in as many games in the Republic and would be expecting more yield against the openly attacking Kiwi franchises who they face in coming weeks.

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BENJI Marshall’s failed rugby bid and eager return to the NRL has left a sour taste in Blues land.

Some are wondering whether the money used to lure Marshall by the Blues and NZRU would have been better used to retain their game-breaking star Rene Ranger, who had agreed a three-year deal with Montpellier but would have stayed if a release fee of $278,000 was paid to the French club.

News_Rich_Media: Auckland Blues coach John Kirwan has compared Benji Marshall's stint in rugby to Michael Jordan's unsuccessful try at Major-league Baseball, saying despite the code change being very courageous it just didn't work out.

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AUSTRALIA’S Super Rugby players will all simultaneously post a message of Anzac Day remembrance this morning at 10am on social media. The playing groups will hold signs saying “ANZAC in Union: We will remember them”, and it is hoped New Zealand sides will do likewise.

The idea came from Boston’s five sporting franchises, who last week simultaneously tweeted their support for the first anniversary Boston Marathon event in the wake of the tragic bombing last year.